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Topic: Belgian saison (Read 8030 times)

How long should my primary fermentation last for my saison. My OG was 1.070 on March 5th. I am using the wyeast Belgian saison which everything I have read can be problematic. I pitched a starter that had been built up twice with a half gallon each time and pitched only the slurry. My 70 F fermentation stalled right around 1.030 which I kind of expected. I put a heating pad underneath and raised the temp up to 78 F. The airlock is bubbling again and my gravity is dropping. Last summer I did a saison with the French saison yeast and left it the primary for almost a month. The aroma was great and it tasted like I expected but had kind of yeasty aftertaste. Anyway if the airlock is showing signs that active fermentation is happening I guess I just let it go until I get into the single digits without moving it off the primary yeast. I think that this yeast likes warmer temps and maybe with the room temps being around 66 F my fermentation time is going to be longer. I just want those cool saison phenols and esters without the yeasty aftertaste. Thoughts?

I've always had good luck with letting the temp free rise after pitching, then holding it at an elevated temp until done. 78F should do the trick, but don't be shocked if it still takes a while. I think my fastest saison still took 3 weeks to finish. Be patient and you'll be happy at the end.

I have a saison with 3711 going right now as well. I fermented for a week in a bucket, then racked to a carboy and put it down in my 50°F basement.

Weirdest thing I've ever seen. The beer is crystal clear in the carboy, yet there is vigorous krausen in the bottle neck. Twice its spewed up into the air lock, which I've had to clean. Yet, you look at it and would swear it is done.

Warm it up and give it time. It needs to be done and the FG in low single digits before you bottle that beer--o/w you'll have bottle bombs. IME, the French Saison yeast ferments rather quickly, does not get stuck as easily during fermentation, and flocculates and clears better compared to the Belgian Saison yeast. I find the taste to be similar. If your FG readings are around 1.005 or so and consistent after several readings, then I'd chill the fermentor to help clarify the beer. You will have some "yeast bite" if you're drinking/sampling beer that hasn't been clarified.

I love the classic strains flavor profile but I hate babying it so I do things a little different to work around its weird speed issues (which actually seem to sort of correlate to pH drop, similar to other published findings regarding wine yeasts and mead pH). I make a big starter of the classic yeast and then using extra wort on brewday, I make a starter for the 2nd string yeast, usually one of the other Saison strains and get it going.. then after 2-3 days, I dump that entire starter into the batch and attenuation sails right into single digits while still maintaining all those great esters that the classic strain is so known for.